Eye Witnesses
by VigoGrimborne
Summary: Seven hunters enlist the aid of an artist to acquire a picture of the thing that attacked them. One-Shot.


The night was warm and gloomy, no stars showing behind the dark veil of clouds that had threatened to burst all day. There was no wind. The small bar was the only illuminated building at this time of night.

Inside, the few patrons were all drunk, except for one young man in the far corner. The bartender decided to ask him if he wanted anything besides the small plate of fish he had ordered, which he had yet to touch.

At that moment, the doors swung open, and seven bedraggled hunters shambled in, looking as if they had just lost a minor war. All seven were singed or bruised in various places, and the largest of them appeared to have had his eyebrows scorched off. They trudged over to the farthest table from the entrance.

The bartender asked them what they wanted, and they proceeded to order various drinks, similar only in their high alcohol content. The hunters slumped over their drinks, muttering. The arguement slowly gained intensity, until one of the burst out in a strangely high-pitched voice.

"We can't even agree on what he looks like!"

The young man at the corner perked at this, and caught the attention of one of the hunters. "Whats the problem over there?"

One of the hunters stared at him and replied; "Why do you care?"

The young man slid his chair over to their table, and responded in an upbeat voice. "You gentlemen seem to be in need of an artist. I happen to be able to draw anyone based only on eyewitness accounts. If you all disagree on what this person looks like, each of you describe him to me, and I can combine your accounts to show you what he looked like."

The hunters stared at him in confusion, before looking at each other and nodding. "You've got a deal."

"Excellent! Now, how did you encounter this mysterious figure?"

The largest hunter, the one with the singed eyebrows, began the tale. "We were sailing back from capturing some dragons. It had gotten dark, when we heard the unholy shriek of a Night Fury."

That was as far as he got before he was interrupted. One of the smaller hunters slammed his hand on the table. "No, you've already got it wrong. The beast landed on the deck before it screeched. I saw it meself!"

Before the argument could resume, the artist interjected. "Alright, we'll hear your account first."

The smaller hunter continued. "I was on watch at the back of the ship, and I saw the beast land near the back with me own eyes. I stood in shock for a moment, and then charged the beast. Out of nowhere another Night Fury screeched, and I got hit on the back of the head. The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was a tall figure, human in shape, but entirely black, no eyes and no mouth."

The artist sketched rapidly, and then stopped, his paper not visible to the hunters. "Got it. You next." He pointed at another of the hunters, who had a large scorch mark on his back.

"Me? Well, I saw the guy knock Klaus out, but he wasn't completely black. I turned to attack him with my sword, and before his beast blasted me I got close enough to see that he was covered in black scales. I couldn't see his eyes, but from what I could see he looked like a dragon in human form, all scaly and dangerous!"

The artist pointed to the next hunter. That hunter nudged the hunter beside him, and they continued the story. "Me and Anvindr saw the same thing. There was a thump, and when we turned, there was a dragon on deck. Before we could say anything, Something flew in and hit Klaus from behind, before landing on the deck. The dragon shot at Tran, and the figure rushed us, before letting loose a cloud of Zippleback gas from somewhere. We both saw him fly, he has wings, whatever he is! Then the cloud exploded, knocking us both out as well."

The artist nodded, quickly adding something to his drawing.

The next hunter spoke up. "I didn't see anything else, a firebolt flew through the gas cloud, lighting it and knocking me out."

The only hunter who had yet to speak besides the large one continued the narrative. "After the cloud had been ignited, I drew my sword."

"And I loaded my crossbow!" interjected the largest hunter.

The smaller hunter continued. "We both watched the flames, only to see the man walk through the flames, dragon by his side, acting like it was nothing! His dragon shot at me, and that was all I saw."

The large hunter spoke up again. "After that, the man ran at me, and cut my crossbow in two with a sword of fire before I could react! His sword set my eyebrows on fire, I was holding my crossbow so close to my head. He laughed at me, and I decided to save my eyebrows and my life by jumping overboard."

The first hunter picked up the story. "So by the time any of us woke up or got back on board, all the dragons we had captured were gone, and our boat was taking on enough water to force us to row here immediately!"

The artist nodded, scribbling furiously. "Walked through fire... sword of fire... very intimidating... got it!" The young man held up his paper, and slammed it down on the table. "Does this look like the man you saw?" The hunters peered at the paper curiously.

On the paper was a remarkably intricate image of a man and a dragon walking through a roaring inferno. They were incredibly detailed, and in the image, the man held a sword of fire, while the dragon's mouth was partially open in anticipation of firing a plasma blast. The man's outline included a suggestion of wings tucked between his arms and legs, though they were barely visible due to the posture of the man.

The hunters stared in awe. This young artist had managed to refine their garbled experiences into an image that accurately depicted the demonic man and dragon. They looked at each other in shock.

The young artist stood, pushing his chair back and picking up his still untouched plate of fish. He took the fish and placed them in a bag at his side. He then took a moment to take in the expressions of the hunters. "So, do you all agree this is the man you saw?"

The hunters nodded. The young artist picked up the drawing and rolled it up. "Glad to be of service. Now, if you will excuse me..." He began to walk towards the door, but stopped at the exclamation of the large hunter.

"Wait! How much for the drawing?"

The young artist stopped for a moment and tapped his metal foot on the ground.

"You know, I don't think I want to sell this. This is the first time I have been asked to do a self-portrait."

He then walked out the door, and the mismatched sounds of his footsteps faded into the night.


End file.
